YouTubers David Fowler and Backtrack teamed up for an epic Panic! At The Disco collab that went live on YouTube on Monday. Patreon supporters got it a few days earlier for their, you know, patronage.

Arranging and video editing by Backtrack. Audio editing, mixing, and mastering by David Fowler.

Both Backtrack and Fowler posted the same video on their respective channels. Why, you may ask, did both artists post the same exact video? If you thought it was a "friendly competition" for views, you'd be wrong.

"Uploading to both channels decreases our chances at virality but makes sure both audiences get exposed to the other," Andrew John Kim of Backtrack said. "Our subscriber-to-view ratio is really high, and we rely mostly on search results and YouTube suggestion algorithm."

Fowler added, "I waited a day to post the video. YouTube algorithms are good at figuring out when there are duplicate videos, and they usually pick one and always direct traffic to it. I didn't want to compete with them directly at the expense of the video's ability to be seen in general. I took the hit willingly!"

How did this epic collaboration happen? David Fowler told us the story:

Fowler: The collaboration was an idea Andrew and I had when we met in January of 2016 when we were both in Rochester, NY, for rehearsal with another group. We had both been watching each other's channels for awhile and immediately had a lot of fun conversations about our shared experience recording and producing a cappella covers. We decided we absolutely should collaborate in the future but couldn't come up with any ideas that inspired us at the time, so we decided we'd wait until something caught our attention.

Nothing happened for a year or so. But then, the stars aligned in late February of this year. Backtrack was getting more requests for a Panic! medley than for anything else they'd ever had -- and at the same time, I won an official contest hosted by Panic's label and got free tickets to a performance in late March.

Andrew asked me about it, and mentioned that they were thinking of doing a Panic! medley, but was struggling to imagine exactly how it would take shape. I suggested that this be our collaboration, and it took off from there.

It worked out great because their arrangement and group blend is astoundingly good, but (Panic! singer Brendon) Urie's vocals were a bit out of their wheelhouse. My rock tenor vocals filled the gap they needed, and the result is something we're all really proud of!

What can you tell us about monetizing YouTube covers?

Kim: We've seen monetization change pretty drastically over the past few years. We're signed to a YouTube network that went from being able to only monetize a handful of songs (mostly older UMG music) to using a third party (WeAreTheHits.com) to having their own monetization platform.

We've gotten some support on Patreon but have been disappointed with it's lack of growth over the past year or so. I think that's partially on us (not knowing our audience well enough to offer the right incentives) but also our audience (who tends to be a bunch of teenagers from around the world). Initially, we used it as a way to supplement our income as a group. The other forms of income being YT revenue and digital distribution through our network, Fullscreen.

Once, we started performing live, gig money became way more significant than anything we were getting from making videos. Still, we believe our path to greater success is through our YT channel, which is why we're on such an aggressive video schedule.

Fowler: Patreon has been immensely helpful to me as a means of continuing to make YouTube something I can focus on. My day job is A Cappella mixing and production and I work for lots of other groups to help them get the recordings and albums that they want.

Since I do this all the time, it can be hard to find motivation to continue working on my own stuff. But Patreon serves a twofold utility for me: It motivates me to create things since there are people who have displayed their affinity for my creations, and it also justifies me spending time on my own projects because it provides some financial retribution for the immense time that I spend.

At the end of the day, though, it's less about money and more about connecting with my dedicated fans and peers.

Support These Artists on Patreon:

Backtrack
David Fowler

What should Backtrack and David Fowler team up to do next? Let us know in the comments below.


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